Judge orders trial for Argentina ex-president

A judge on Thursday ordered Argentina's former president Cristina Kirchner to stand trial on charges of financial mismanagement.

It is the first of several cases against the combative 64-year-old leftist leader to go to trial.

A string of cases targeting Kirchner and her rival, current President Mauricio Macri, are clouding Argentine politics ahead of mid-term elections later this year.

Kirchner is accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollar futures at artificially low prices, causing Argentina to lose hundreds of millions. She denies wrongdoing.

Kirchner's defenders say she should not be prosecuted for a mishandled economic policy. But the accusation cited in the court ruling alleges that her and two other defendants' actions amounted to "fraudulent administration" of state funds.

Federal judge Claudio Bonadio ordered a court to set a date for her trial, in a ruling released by the High Court's Judicial Information Center.

He also called to trial Kirchner's former economy minister Axel Kicillof and Alejandro Vanoli, who was head of the central bank at the time, on the same charges.